Second Battle of Corinth

The Second Battle of Corinth occurred from 3-4 October 1862 in Corinth, Mississippi during the American Civil War. After the Battle of Iuka on the border with Tennessee in the northeast, Confederate general Sterling Price marched his army to meet with Earl Van Dorn's defeated Confederate army. The combined army was placed under Van Dorn's command, and the army moved to the critical northern Mississippi rail junction at Corinth. The Confederates sought to disrupt Union communication lines and then sweep into Middle Tennessee, and William Rosecrans' Union Army of the Mississippi met the Confederates in battle at Corinth. The Confederates pushed the US Army from the rifle pits originally built by the Confederates for the siege of Corinth, and they continued to push the Union army back until they retreated to an inner line of fortifications. On the second day of battle, the Confederates, facing heavy artillery fire, stormed Battery Powell and Battery Robinett, where desperate hand-to-hand combat occurred. A brief attack on the town of Corinth was repulsed, and a Union counterattack recaptured Battery Powell. Van Dorn ordered a general retreat, and the cautious Rosecrans did not pursue, allowing for the Confederate army to avoid destruction. The Confederates suffered double the Union casualties, losing over 4,000 men.